The Wall Street Journals Melanie Trottman reported a senior Congressmens views from the APTA conference that any increase in Congressional funding for transit was unlikely. In an interview with House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL) Mica, he said a six-year-bill is the only thing I will consider. But more funding for public transit seems unlikely. I think its going to have to stay about the same.

Chairman Mica told transit leaders, the Wall Street Journal continued, that theyre going to have to be much more creative and look at consolidation of some of their operations.

The rest of the world calls them bullet trains because they go so fast. But in the United States, the nickname is apt for a different reason: They keep getting shot down.

The nations first true high-speed railroad was supposed to leave the station in 2015, a sleek Tomorrowland-worthy train that would have whisked riders between Orlando and Tampa at speeds of up to 168 miles an hour

The fast train was sought, and won, by Floridas former Republican governor, Charlie Crist. But it was killed last month by his successor, Rick Scott, who joined several other Republican governors in spurning federally financed train projects over fears that their states could be on the hook for future costs. The final nail in its coffin came last week when a Florida court ruled that the new governor could not be forced to accept the [$2.4 Billion in] federal money and start building it...

The story of the lines rise and fall shows how it was ultimately undone by a tradeoff that was made when the route was first selected.

The Tampa-to-Orlando route had obvious drawbacks: It would have linked two cities that are virtually unnavigable without cars, and that are so close that the new train would have been little faster than driving. But the Obama administration chose it anyway because it was seen as the line that could be built first. Florida had already done much of the planning, gotten many of the necessary permits and owned most of the land that would be needed.

In the end, though, the states new governor decided not to build it at all, worried that those very drawbacks would ultimately make it a boondoggle.

White House Seeks a Legacy

President Obama announced the selection of Florida in 2010 in the most visible possible setting: his State of the Union address. Tomorrow, Ill visit Tampa, Fla., where workers will soon break ground on a new high-speed railroad, he said, before flying to Florida the next day to promote the project in a town-hall-style meeting.

There is no reason why other countries can build high-speed rail lines and we cant, Mr. Obama told a cheering crowd. And thats whats about to happen right here in Tampa.

A Route Is Seen as Too Short

Floridas route had some glaring imperfections, though.

Tampa and Orlando are only 84 miles apart, generally considered too close for high-speed rail to make sense. The train trip, with many stops along the way, would have shaved only around a half-hour off the drive .

When America 2050, a planning group, ranked potential routes in a report called Where High-Speed Rail Works Best, the Tampa-to-Orlando route was not even included because the cities are too close together .

G.O.P. Opposition Mounts

Then things began to fall apart. As the 2010 midterm elections heated up, Republicans began running against the federal largess states have traditionally sought

[But] Last month, Mr. Scott decided to scuttle the project after reading a report by the Reason Foundation that questioned its ridership estimates. The foundation is a prominent libertarian policy research organization that employs several respected transportation analysts, but it gets some of its funding from donors with ties to the oil industry, including foundations related to Koch Industries, which owns oil refineries.

The truth is that this project would be far too costly to taxpayers, and I believe the risk far outweighs the benefits, Mr. Scott said.

But a state-sponsored ridership study, which was released this week, concluded that the proposed line would actually have been a money-maker from the start

Floridas high-speed rail line is deader than dead. The man in charge of the states aborted project is moving on to a place far-more friendly to fast trains Qatar. Meanwhile Ray LaHood announced last week that the $2.4 billion in federal funding forfeited by the state will be made available to other bullet lines through a competitive, merit-driven process.

States across the country have already begun to lobby for the money.

While no decision has been made, some of the funding appears destined for the Northeast Corridor. A few days after announcing his $2.4 billion competition, LaHood officially designated the Northeast Corridor a high-speed rail corridor  something it strangely was not, despite running the countrys only fast(ish) train, the Acela. The move makes Amtrak, which operates the corridor, eligible to apply for part of the Florida pot, and rail-friendly Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey has made clear that it will.

The Northeast Corridor is far and away the most successful rail region in the country, and lately Amtrak has pushed hard to improve its cash cow. Last fall it proposed the construction of a new, $117 billion bona fide high-speed line in the northeast. More recently it outlined the first piece of this plan: a $13.5 billion tunnel improvement between New York and New Jersey called the Gateway Project. As Yonah Freemark points out in a comprehensive post on the corridors situation, Amtrak chief Joseph Boardman knows something needs to be done:

Amtrak sees a massive investment in the Northeast Corridor as a necessary one, both from an economic perspective and in terms of physical infrastructure. Noting the Northeasts role as the nations most productive region, Mr. Boardman argued that its health depends on the transportation systems that connect it. Weve lived off investments that were made two centuries ago, he said. And we havent made the investments that we need to make for the future. Amtrak, as the provider of intercity rail and the owner of most of the line, can serve an essential role. [Yonahs emphasis]

From a political perspective, the Northeast Corridor also appears to be the one region where Republicans are amenable to fast trains. During a congressional hearing last week, Republican John Mica, head of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, expressed his belief that focusing on the northeast is the smart move:

The only chance of success for high-speed rail is to rely on the private sector and focus on a project that makes sense, particularly the Northeast Corridor. The questions now are how do we regain our credibility after so much damage has been done, and how can we find a better opportunity to bring true high-speed rail to the congested Northeast Corridor with significant private sector involvement?

Photo: Amtrak Ink Newsletter

The Auto Train sits awaiting departure at Lorton. VA

But Micas position, as the above quote makes clear, has a critical qualification: he believes the private sector, and not Amtrak, is most capable of properly serving the Northeast Corridor. Mica voiced his preference for a public-private rail partnership in the region during a hearing in New York in early February. Yesterday this stance was confirmed in an official 2012 Budget document that was approved by the committee,

Amtraks historical failure to successfully execute capital projects strongly suggests that the United States should explore alternative solutions for high-speed rail service on the NEC [Northeast Corridor].

To make this kind of successful high-speed rail a reality, the expertise and investment capital of the private sector must be utilized

So Amtrak has two battles on its hands at the moment: first, proving it deserves part of Floridas funding; and second, proving it deserves the chance to use it.

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